Have an attitude of gratitudeIf Thomas Jefferson could be faulted for one thing in composing the Declaration of Independence, it might be his inclusion of the words “the pursuit of happiness” in the text. Happiness is a vapor that cannot be grasped; a temporary feeling based on transitory circumstances akin to the euphoria of a full-on sugar rush. Happiness is good for a time, but it cannot last. Life invariably intervenes. So many seem so unthankful about so much these d...

Happy Giving Thanks DayI let certain things get to me more than they should, such as the misuse of the apostrophe to pluralize a word on hand-lettered signs. Another is calling the holiday we celebrate this time of year “Turkey Day.” I know it’s just a way of taking the stuffing out of a holiday that could use a little more fun. Cooking a big meal is hard work. Family gatherings can be stressful. And the way the word is constructed, “Thanksgiving,” is not really how...

Putting Americans firstAddressing the nation last Thursday, President Obama sought to justify his misreading of the Constitution by unilaterally granting legal protection to 5 million illegal immigrants. In this, he reminded me of what Richard Nixon told David Frost in a 1977 interview. The exchange is worth recalling: “FROST: So what in a sense you’re saying is that there are certain situations ... where the president can decide that it’s in the best interests of t...

Giving thanks and giving purposeThis Thanksgiving, many of us are looking forward to joining with family and friends and to the break from life’s demands that the holiday affords us. But in President John F. Kennedy’s final Thanksgiving proclamation, he urged Americans not to use it simply as a day of rest. It should also be a day of contemplation, he said, issuing this call: “Today we give our thanks, most of all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefa...

Gambling on health careJonathan Gruber’s several videotaped remarks about the gross deceptions that got ObamaCare passed in Congress should tell us a lot about the Obama administration. And the way that the mainstream media hesitated for days to even mention what Professor Gruber said, while they obsessed over unsubstantiated charges against Bill Cosby, should tell us a lot about the media. Whatever did or did not happen between Bill Cosby and various women is not l...

Man arrested in underwear theftsAlaska State Troopers said they detained a man suspected of stealing women’s underwear during burglaries in Kodiak. An 18-year-old was taken into custody Monday. Online court records early Tuesday didn’t indicate he had been formally charged. Troopers said the burglaries occurred over three months. Residents would return home to find items — mostly women’s underwear — missing. They had been alerted to keep their doors locked. The agency said t...

State court signals ruling on marriageLITTLE ROCK — As he urged Arkansas’ highest court to strike down the state’s ban on gay marriage last week, attorney Jack Wagoner tried to illustrate just how much the national landscape had changed since he filed a lawsuit last year on behalf of 20 same-sex couples. In one hand, he held a list of 50 rulings by judges against similar restrictions across the country. He held in the other hand a list of the rulings going the other way — three. W...

The end of an admirable eraAfter 42 years of steadfast service to his country, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Ralph E. Rigby recently retired from the U.S. Army. More memorable than the official celebration ceremony, which rightly marked the end of this loyal American’s service, was the national policy that made his career possible. Ralph Rigby was almost certainly the last soldier on active duty who had been drafted into military service. This retirement truly marks the end o...

Silver-haired LegislatureSince 2010 Arkansas families have benefited from a program known as the Silver Alert. The Silver Alert is a public notification system to broadcast information about missing persons, especially senior citizens with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or other mental disabilities in order to aid in their recovery. But what you may not realize is how this concept came to the attention of legislators. It was the direct result of senior citizens activel...

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State House of RepresentativesThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Thanks and givingThanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. A chance to be grateful instead of focusing on gift-giving and gift-receiving. Family, friends, bountiful feasts and football are at the forefront of our minds rather than cocktail parties and gifts. Think of it as a time to pause and give thanks before the whirlwind of December. Thanksgiving began in 1621. The pilgrims invited the Wampanoag Native Americans to join them in celebration of the fall h...

Home-grown survival kitCONWAY — Several months ago I presented a column titled “SHELTER BOX: A Truly Great Idea,” that set forth ideas for use in the event of manmade or natural disasters where large numbers of people are displaced for an extended period of time. The organization, based in the United Kingdom, had meticulously determined the most basic and pressing needs to include in a pre-packaged box for mass distribution. Well, one of my local readers, Delores Ca...

Racial quota punishmentIf anyone still has any doubt about the utter cynicism of the Obama administration, a recent agreement between the federal government and the Minneapolis Public Schools should open their eyes. Under the Obama administration, both the Department of Education and the Department of Justice have been leaning on public schools around the country to reduce what they call the “disproportionate” numbers of black male students who are punished for vari...

Teaching hateThe murder on Tuesday of five people and the serious wounding of several others while they were praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem is only the latest in a continuing pattern of violence and hatred directed against Israel and the Jewish people. It also replays a familiar scenario: terrorist act is followed by condemnation (though not as strong as when Israel is perceived to be responsible for Palestinian deaths), followed by threats of retalia...

A Legacy of LiberalismSupreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said there were “phrases that serve as an excuse for not thinking.” One of these phrases that substitute for thought today is one that depicts the current problems of blacks in America as “a legacy of slavery.” New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof asserts that there is “overwhelming evidence that centuries of racial subjugation still shape inequity in the 21st century” and he mentions “the lingerin...

GOP's timing was good ... this yearHere’s what did not happen on Election Day: The American people did not simply rise up and repudiate President Obama and give Republicans a mandate. Oh, they did repudiate Obama, but the Republican Party’s big win was more the result of timing and demographic factors that worked entirely in its favor this year and mostly will favor Democrats in 2016. We’re talking nationally, not about Arkansas. What happened in Arkansas was permanent. Let’s f...

Kudos to the mayorThanks, Mayor Eaton, for your letter to the editor this Saturday morning, Nov. 15. I wished you had written it before the election. We all should be so conscientious before we pull that lever for a candidate. Regretting that I didn’t ask you why your were not running because I thought you had done a fantastic job, am I to assume the pressure from the behind the scenes power-brokers was too much? The one time I had called your office you had re...

Novel brings attention to sister's 1976 murder caseOne of the best things about being retired from full-time newspaper work is that I have time to read about something other than current events. I have made a small dent in my library and moved a few new books to the top of my reading list. One of the latter is “A Sunny Place for Shady People,” published this year by Stiletto Press. The author is Stephen W. Brooks, a fellow native of Hot Springs who lives on St. Simon’s Island, Ga. It’s his fif...

Beebe tries to leave mark with budgetLITTLE ROCK — Painting a bleak picture of the impact tax cuts already approved could have on state agencies, outgoing Gov. Mike Beebe wasn’t just trying to issue a warning to a Republican successor elected on a vow to slash income taxes. He’s also trying to leave his last mark on a state budget that he’s had a hand in crafting for more than three decades. The two-term Democratic governor’s lame-duck budget recommendations go before a Legislatu...

A thank you to local athletesI have to brag on some people from time to time. As the assistant sports editors and primary sports reporter for this newspaper, I get to meet a lot of coaches and players and many of them deserve praise for things they do off the field or court. Here’s my attempt to say thank you to a few of them. Andy Campbell Campbell is a basketball player and a baseball player for the Russellville Cyclones. I attended his recent signing with Southwest Bap...